


Hold You

by blue_food_tastes_better



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Becoming bros, Comforting Leo, Crying Nico, Hugging, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I wish I could write fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, In a very homosexual way, Leo and Nico as friends, M/M, Nico is depressed, Not Canon Compliant, Not romantic at all, Sorry Not Sorry, This was written at 3 am and in like 10 minutes no judgement allowed, Why Did I Write This?, YOLO, not exactly fluff, oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 20:39:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2402150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_food_tastes_better/pseuds/blue_food_tastes_better
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Look, I'm-" he let out a long breath and chuckled humourlessly. "I'm no good at this. But, like... Do you need me to hold you?"<br/>Nico's head shot up. "What?"<br/>Leo flushed the colour of a tomato. "W-well, I mean, it's okay if you think that's awkward or whatever, but it might help."<br/>"Sure," said Nico, working hard not to sound too enthusiastic about the idea of Leo putting his arms around him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold You

Hold You  
Nico wasn't the kind of person to resort to the blade when things got rough, no matter what the kids in the Aphrodite cabin said about him being "emo". Nico had never seen the point in cutting himself, saying that new pain doesn't make the old pain go away. Not to say he'd never thought about cutting- the time after Bianca's death and his confession to Jason and Cupid had been tempting, to say the least- but he was always able to push his head up and find other ways to deal with the pain.  
Like crying.  
Nico was the kind to curl himself up in a ball and sob his eyes out. The kinds of sobs that wrack your body and make your stomach hurt and make your breaths short and uneven, and every time you breathe in it's a stuttering gasp and every time you breathe out it's a wail. Nico would never admit it to anyone, but he was a cryer.  
He always went somewhere private, and never his cabin (because Percy's cabin was next door, and gods, he was like the annoyingly overprotective big brother). The Underworld was his favourite place, of course, just another lost soul to blend in with the crowds of Asphodel, just a few more helpless sobs to blend into the overlapping distress calls coming from the Fields of Punishment.  
But today, Nico wasn't in the Underworld, he was out in the woods, in a random cluster of trees where he was sure no one would hear him, let alone actually find him.  
Aside from that infuriatingly adorable Leo-fucking-Valdez, coming back from a hard days work in Bunker 9 (which was probably more accurately about 5% working, 15% dancing around to Anaconda by Nickki Minaj, and 80% watching Star Wars, Return of the Jedi and fanboying).  
"My anaconda don't! My anaconda don't! My anaconda don't want none unless you got bu- Nico?" Leo heard the sobbing as he was leaving the Bunker and froze in his tracks.  
Nico picked his head up and leaned against a pine tree, snuffling and trying to wipe away his tears.  
"Nico?" came Leo's voice again, as he turned the corner and saw Nico leaned up against the tree.  
"Y-yeah?" Nico tried at a nonchalant voice, but it came out sounding like the voice of a guy who's given up.  
Leo plopped himself down across from Nico. "Um... hey. What's wrong?" asked Leo.  
Nico took one look at Leo and burst back into tears. Gods fucking damn that stupid son of a bastard (no offense, Hephaestus) motherfucking stupid ass shit damn perfect Leo Valdez, with his stupid ass adorable curly hair and those retarded as fuck attractive dimples and just all of him was so good and cute and genuine it should have been illegal.  
Anger for the son of Hephaestus bubbled up inside Nico.  
"Just go away, Leo." he snapped.  
Leo looked him over. Even with a blotchy, tear-streaked face and a nose rubbed red and anger etched across his features he looked angelic. Gods damn that stupid gorgeous face and flawless porcelain skin and two inches he had on Leo. Everything about Nico was so perfect it should have come with a "Fragile! This Side Up!" sign. Maybe then people would care if they broke him.  
"I'm not going to leave." said Leo.  
Nico stared at the Latino in disbelief. Not only does he have to be fucking adorable as shit, but he's nice, too? After a few moments of silence, Nico spoke, his voice breaking.  
"Why do you even care?"  
After several minutes of internal conflict, Leo made a motion with his arms as if he were about to do something, then stopped, then put them slightly out as if he were unsure what to do. "I just care about you, okay di Angelo? I care about you a lot."  
Something inside Nico broke, and he started to cry again. Leo took a deep breath.  
"Look, I'm-" he let out a long breath and chuckled humourlessly. "I'm no good at this. But, like... Do you need me to hold you?"  
Nico's head shot up. "What?"  
Leo flushed the colour of a tomato. "W-well, I mean, it's okay if you think that's awkward or whatever, but it might help."  
"Sure," said Nico, working hard not to sound too enthusiastic about the idea of Leo putting his arms around him.  
And Leo hugging him was like fire and ice and snow and sunshine and Warheads and Skittles and unicorns and rainbows all wrapped into one, and it felt so damn good that all Nico could do was bury his face into the crook of Leo's neck and hope the hug never ended.  
Leo started rubbing his back, a little awkwardly at first, then it got smoother. "Hey, it's alright. It's okay."  
After several moments, Nico pulled away. "Thank you." he said.  
"It's what friends are for, yeah?" said Leo.  
"So we're friends then?" asked Nico.  
"U-uh, I guess so. I mean, we don't- I just thought that- um-" Leo stuttered, blush creeping up his neck.  
Nico laughed a little. "It's okay. I want to be friends."  
And Leo smiled, pulling Nico in for another hug.

**Author's Note:**

> Eek! I tried. This is my first story up on Ao3, but definitely not my first fanfic. Please leave comments and kudos! I will be putting more stories up, most likely all Valdangelo or Percabeth. So yeah...  
> I'm socially awkward. Bye  
> \- Blue food


End file.
